Staff Engineer, Data Semantics

Datadog

Confirmed live yesterday High trust
Remote

Quick summary

Work type
Remote
Location
Remote
Posted
71 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday

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Salary context

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $193k
$146k most similar roles pay here $246k

This listing doesn't post a salary. Most similar roles pay $162,412–$223,775.

Based on 240 similar postings.

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About Datadog

Datadog, Inc. is an American company that provides an observability service for cloud-scale applications, providing monitoring of servers, databases, tools, and services, through a SaaS-based data analytics platform.

Datadog currently has 266 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $161,000–$205,000 across 138 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Staff Engineer, Data Semantics

As a Staff Engineer - Data Semantics, you will serve as a technical leader for the Data Semantics team, balancing the stewardship of critical production systems with the exploration of new platform capabilities. You will be responsible for building and scaling semantic infrastructure that bridges OpenTelemetry, Datadog-native telemetry, cloud-provider telemetry, and customer-defined data models. Your daily work involves driving initiatives focused on schema evolution, telemetry standardization, and semantic interoperability while mentoring engineers through design reviews and technical guidance. The role requires expertise in designing and operating large-scale data infrastructure, distributed systems, or high-throughput data platforms. Key technical areas include schema design, metadata systems, OpenTelemetry, observability platforms, knowledge graphs, and AI-assisted developer tooling. You will solve complex problems regarding how telemetry is modeled, understood, and consumed across the company's observability platform to improve overall product experiences.

What does a Engineer earn in Remote?

Median $189520 from 49 postings across 15 companies.

See salary data

What you'll do

  • Lead the technical direction of the Data Semantics team while remaining hands-on in design and implementation.
  • Build and scale semantic infrastructure to bridge OpenTelemetry, cloud-provider telemetry, and customer data models.
  • Drive platform initiatives focused on schema evolution, telemetry standardization, and semantic interoperability.
  • Partner with engineering and product teams to define standards and deliver high-leverage platform capabilities.
  • Mentor engineers through design reviews, technical guidance, and long-term career development.
  • Participate in on-call rotations to investigate and resolve complex production incidents for critical services.

What we're looking for

  • Experience designing, operating, and scaling large-scale data infrastructure or high-throughput data platforms.
  • Demonstrated Staff-level impact through technical leadership, architectural ownership, and cross-team influence.
  • Ability to mentor engineers through design reviews and provide guidance on operational excellence.
  • Strong communication skills to drive alignment across engineering and product organizations without direct authority.
  • Product-oriented mindset to connect platform investments to customer outcomes and business impact.
  • Ability to navigate ambiguous problem spaces while balancing long-term strategy with pragmatic execution.
  • Experience with schema design, metadata systems, OpenTelemetry, or knowledge graphs is a plus.
  • Experience with observability platforms or AI-assisted developer tooling is a plus.

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